Current Position:

Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies, University of Montana

Research Associate, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Description:

Rosalyn is an environmental historian, ethnobotanist, writer and popular public speaker. In her research, writing and speaking she blends traditional knowledge learned from elders with academic knowledge. She believes that preserving traditional knowledge and revitalizing indigenous languages supports the conservation of the natural world.

Rosalyn spent over twenty years apprenticing with Blackfeet elder Annie Mad Plume Wall learning ethnobotany. She continues to work closely with tribal elders to learn traditional environmental knowledge. She has over 25 years experience researching TEK.

Rosalyn has thirteen years teaching experience: eight years with a Native-controlled college and five years at UM.

Rosalyn is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Tribe in Montana and also Red River Métis. Her Blackfeet name is Kitai-ksiss-kstaki, which translates as Not Real (Supernatural) Beaver Woman.

With Native American Studies at UM: NASX/PSCI 475X Tribal Sovereignty, NASX 391 American Indian Environmental Knowledge and Ethics, NASX 304E Native American Belief and Philosophy (same as NASX/RSTS 301 American Indian Religion and Philosophy), and ENST/NASX 303E Ecological Perspectives in Native American Traditions.

Affiliations:

Founding Member, National Coalition of Native American Language Schools and Programs, 2014 to present

Rosalyn is one of four Native American professors nationally at a research university in an Environmetal Studies or Sciences department. She is the first and only Blackfeet tribal member with a tenure track position at the University of Montana.

Professional Experience:

Rosalyn career has been devoted to positive community change and development. She has worked with community-based organizations that advocate for Native American language revitalization and at the national level to promote policies to strengthen Native American languages for twenty-five years.

She worked with Piegan Institute and the late Darrell Robes Kipp (Apiniokio Peta) from 1991 to 2014, during that time she raised $4,000,000 for Piegan Institute programs.

She works to influence state and federal policies to revitalize Native American languages, including the Esther Martinez Native American Languages Preservation Act.

She is the founder of Saokio Heritage, a community based organization, that works to revitalize Native American languages and environmental knowledge using digital and social media.

She is a founding member of the National Coalition of Native American Language Schools and Programs.

International Experience:

Rosalyn has been an invited guest and speaker on ethnobotany and indigenous languages in Indigenous communities in North and South America, including Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Venezula and Bolivia.

Honors/Awards:

Research Associate, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 2015-2018